The    C  ommission 
for 


Relief   in  Belgium 


Address 
February  I  Oth  — 

Mr.  Lindon  W.  Bates 

Vice-Chairman 
of  the 

Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium 


1 

Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/commissionforrelOObate 


Address  by  Mr.  Lindon  W.  Bates 


T  T  was  the  third  week  of  October.  A  hurricane 
J_  of  fire  had  swept  an  heroic  land.  To  the  East 
a  wall  of  steel  which  none  could  pierce.  West 
the  molten  front  of  craters,  which  none  could  pass. 
North  a  sea  which  none  could  gain.  South  the 
mountains  whence  came  the  endless  legions  of  the 
victors.  Thus  hemmed  six  and  a  half  millions  of 
embodied  souls !  By  the  importunate  and  strident 
will  of  our  American  Minister,  seconded  by  the  en- 
voys of  Spain  and  Italy  and  by  the  grace  of  saving 
goodness  in  the  conquering  keepers  of  the  gates, 
those  who  were  about  to  die  were  enabled  to  send 
out  salutations  and  appeal :  appeal  not  for  charity, 
not  to  professional  philanthropy,  but  an  appeal  to  the 
love  of  all  the  world,  an  appeal  to  live — Love  whose 
outpourings  now  freight  the  seven  seas.  The  neutral 
Ministers  standing  to  their  posts  in  Brussels — ac- 
credited the  Mission  of  the  appeal  to  the  American, 
Spanish  and  Italian  Ambassadors  in  London  who 
rallied  to  their  group,  the  American  Ambassadors  to 
Germany  and  France,  our  Minister  to  Holland  and 
the  consuls  of  all  their  nations  in  the  zone  of  im- 
minent disaster. 

Thus  it  began.  Then  with  bewildering  quickness 
came  the  diplomatic,  the  naval  and  military  agree- 
ments, the  conventions  published  and  unpublished, 
between  the  belligerent  nations.  These  treaties  are 
the  charter  of  that  creation  like  unto  no  other  that 
ever  was — the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium. 

It  was  founded  to  deal  not  with  causes  but  with 
effects.  The  keystone  of  its  arch  was  neutrality. 
To  be  unneutral,  to  be  partisan,  were  to  put  a  help- 
less multitude  in  hopeless  peril.    It  was  given  its 


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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES 


Constitution,  and  its  Governors.  The  Commission 
for  Relief  in  Belgium  includes  the  American  Com- 
mission for  Relief  in  Belgium,  the  Italian  Commis- 
sion, the  Spanish  Commission,  and  the  Comite  Na- 
tional (de  Secours  et  d'Alimentation).  Its  official 
status  was  from  the  start  thus  insured.  It  was 
granted  by  the  German  Government  not  only  the 
sole  right  to  transport  food  into  Belgium  but  given 
the  active  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  German  military 
authorities.  Despite  reports  to  the  contrary,  not  one 
pound  of  food  sent  in  has  been  appropriated.  The 
treasury  of  the  Commission  draws  from  the  gen- 
erous heart  of  the  world.  Into  this  treasury  has 
been  put  also  all  that  the  enveloped  Belgian  race 
could  gather  of  the  remnants  of  their  shattered  for- 
tunes. It  registers  their  struggle  for  survival.  It 
represents  their  very  all — the  all  that  the  better-to-do 
can  give  to  help  themselves  and  unreservedly  to  help 
their  fellow  beings  in  the  ranks  already  destitute  and 
starving.  This  is  our  main  purchasing  fund — the 
greatest  and  the  sacredest  of  all  the  donations. 

The  Commission  is  one  hundred  and  eleven  days 
old.  It  began  with  no  organization  whatever.  It 
became  responsible  for  feeding  six  and  a  half  mil- 
lions of  people.  Six  and  a  half  millions  are  the 
numbers  of  the  contending  armies — the  perfection 
of  whose  commissaries  is  the  studied  preparation  of 
thirty  years.  Their  supply  was  at  hand,  the  nearest 
of  ours  a  thousand  leagues  across  the  ocean ;  they 
had  their  towers  and  treasuries  of  gold,  we  were 
moneyless,  foodless,  shipless — beggars  in  all  lands 
and  seas.  To  secure  but  ten  ounces  of  food  a  head 
— less  than  one-fourth  of  the  ration  actually  con- 
sumed in  New  York  City— a  6,000-ton  ship  loaded 
with  foodstuffs  must  be  dispatched  every  forty-eight 
hours. 


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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LIN  DON  W.  BATES 


This  was  the  problem  which  one  hundred  and 
eleven  days  ago  the  Commission  undertook  to  solve. 
It  lias  a  growing  navy  now — a  fleet  of  sixty  ships, 
the  safest  in  the  world.  It  has  a  new  flag,  banners 
and  burgees — white  with  red  letters,  its  visible  safe- 
guards in  the  zones  of  war.  The  British,  French  and 
German  Admiralties  all  have  conferred  upon  its 
ships  the  rights  of  Safe  Conduct  over  and  under 
sea  and  through  the  water  aisles  of  the  mine  fields 
to  Rotterdam.  The  Dutch  Government  furnished  the 
indispensable  facilities  for  unloading;  this  Govern- 
ment not  alone  supplied  these  facilities,  but,  in  a 
period  of  emergency,  loaned  the  Commission  ten 
thousand  tons  of  food  purchased  for  Holland  itself. 

The  Commission  has  its  armies  without  arms,  bear- 
ing life,  not  death;  an  army  of  givers  in  America, 
in  Canada,  in  Argentine,  New  Zealand,  Australia, 
India,  Burmah — all  round  the  earth — an  army  gather- 
ing and  bearing  tribute  to  those  encompassed  by 
water  and  by  fire.  In  the  United  States,  its  organiza- 
tion reaches  the  smallest  hamlets.  Wherever  there 
is  a  parcel  post  station  there  is  displayed  by  courtesy 
of  the  Government  a  placard  indicating  the  means  by 
which  any  one  who  chooses  to  make  the  smallest 
donation  may  send  it  to  the  Commission. 

All  the  Express  Companies  in  the  United  States 
have  made  a  special  two-thirds  rate,  and  in  every 
express  office,  the  Commission's  placards  have  been 
posted  and  food  will  be  received.  The  food  so  col- 
lected goes  to  the  nearest  of  one  hundred  Inland 
Storage  Depots,  where  these  small  packages  are  as- 
sembled into  carload  lots  for  transport  to  seaboard. 
The  Commission  has  its  shipping  agents  in  fourteen 
different  ports,  including  Portland,  Me.;  Boston, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Norfolk,  New- 
port News,  Charleston,  New  Orleans,  San  Pedro, 
San  Francisco,  Portland,  Ore. ;  Seattle  and  Tacoma. 

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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES 


From  each  of  these  ports  ships  of  the  Commis- 
sion carry  the  donated  food  that  has  been  assembled. 

The  Commission  purchases  food  from  funds  sent 
it  from  all  the  world,  from  the  Spanish  and  Italian 
Commissions,  by  individuals  and  Committees  in  the 
United  States,  and  from  the  Trust-fund  bestowed 
by  the  Belgians  themselves. 

The  Commission  from  America  has  to  date 
handled,  or  arranged  for,  a  total  of  292,000  tons  of 
food  already  transported  or  to  be  carried  in  forty- 
eight  ships.  To  date  there  have  been  unloaded  at 
Rotterdam  97,000  tons  from  United  States  ports. 
There  are  six  steamers  in  transit  carrying  40,450 
tons  more.  The  Commission  has  three  steamships 
representing  21,900  tons  now  being  loaded  in  various 
ports.  It  has  eleven  ships  in  transit  to  America  to 
carry  64,300  tons  of  cargo.  It  has  eleven  ships  of 
68,600  tons  on  charter  for  early  loading.  Our  Cana- 
dian Branch  has  sent  food  and  clothing  to  the  value 
of  $1,745,563  in  five  ships  and  ten  shipments  in  liners. 

All  the  ships  go  to  Rotterdam.  An  army  of 
stevedores  discharges  them  into  another  fleet  of  hun- 
dreds of  canal  boats.  The  barges  go  through  the 
canal  net-work  of  Belgium,  each  boat  covered  by 
the  flag. 

In  Belgium  our  last  army  takes  charge — volunteer 
distributors,  many,  many  thousands,  captained  by 
young  Americans.  Most  are  young  college  men — 
the  Rhodes  Scholarship  group  furnishing  several. 
The  food  is  issued  twice  daily  under  a  carefully 
adjusted  system  of  distribution.  The  five  million 
people  in  Belgium  who  still  can  buy  supplies  pay 
the  cost  price  for  what  they  get.  This  money  returns 
to  the  Commission  and  is  re-invested.  The  number 
of  those  who  can  pay  is  diminishing  daily.  There 
are  now  1,500,000  absolutely  destitute,  who  receive 
food  at  bread-lines.    The  men,  women  and  children 


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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES 


who  at  this  very  moment  are  standing  one  behind  the 
other  waiting  for  the  supper  dole  would  make  a 
line  600  miles  long.  Every  day  as  the  number  who 
can  pay  diminishes,  the  bread-line  lengthens.  Within 
a  few  months  the  line  will  be  2,500  miles  long — 
which  would  reach  from  New  York  to  Salt  Lake 
City. 

To  feed  the  destitute  requires  at  present  $100,000 
a  day,  nearly  $3,000,000  a  month,  or  at  the  rate  of 
$36,000,000  a  year.  This  was  about  the  annual  rate 
of  appropriations  for  the  Panama  Canal  construc- 
tion. When,  in  a  few  months,  all  the  Belgians  are 
destitute,  it  will  take  $12,000,000  a  month,  $144,000,000 
a  year,  four  times  the  annual  expenditure  for  the 
Canal.  Already  in  addition  to  all  that  is  donated 
we  are  expending  $6,000,000  per  month. 

On  the  cards  which  will  be  passed  to  you,  you  will 
see  the  records  of  distribution  to  families  in  one  of 
the  Brussels  agencies.  Each  destitute  family  re- 
ceives such  a  card  on  which  is  stamped  the  record 
of  "rations  received."  You  will  note  that  two  of  the 
successive  spaces  are  blank.  This  indicates  that  for 
two  distributions  the  Commission  was  not  able  to 
give  food  and  they  went  without  any  whatever. 

Several  of  these  cards  show  other  similar  blanks. 
You  can  judge  of  the  insufficient  reserves  and  how 
pitifully  small  is  our  margin  of  safety. 

It  is  natural  that  the  appeal  for  infants  should 
meet  the  readiest  response.  The  babies  and  young 
children  have  far  the  best  provision.  At  the  very 
first,  the  Commission  gathered  into  a  large  number 
of  dairies  all  the  milch  cows  it  was  possible  to  find. 
These  cows  it  has  fed  with  corn  from  Argentine, 
and  bran  from  the  American  wheat  which  was  sent 
and  milled  in  the  flour  mills  of  Belgium.  In  addi- 
tion, the  Commission  has  bought  nearly  4,000,000 

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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES 


cans  of  condensed  milk.  There  have  been  donated 
about  400,000  more.  The  war  babies  and  the  little 
children  have  provision  for  three  months,  but  the 
others  for  less  than  four  weeks ! 

The  heads  of  all  departments  of  the  Commission 
give  their  entire  timp  free.  The  offices,  warehouses 
and  docks  are  also  donated  or  leased  for  a  nominal 
rental.  The  services  of  shipping  agents  and  char- 
tered accountants  are  in  a  large  part  donated.  Ameri- 
can railroads  have  transported  much  of  the  food 
without  charge,  and  many  firms  have  contributed 
to  the  office  equipment. 

The  Commission  is  absolutely  the  only  medium 
through  which  food  can  go  into  Belgium.  An  or- 
ganization thinking  of  working  independently  was 
informed  by  the  German  military  authorities  that  the 
Commission  was  alone  permitted  for  the  purpose 
and  that  they  would  moreover  guarantee  the  entire 
consumption  by  the  German  Army  of  all  stores 
brought  in  by  others. 

The  Commission's  work  is  under  a  daily  audit  of 
all  receipts  and  expenditures,  as  is  likewise  the  dis- 
tribution system  in  Belgium.  It  comprises  fifty-five 
members  and  has  offices  in  London,  New  York,  Rot- 
terdam, Brussels,  Antwerp  and  other  Belgian  cities. 

The  Commission  has  diplomatic  relations  with 
seven  governments.  These  add  to  other  courtesies 
that  of  waiving  censorship  over  its  correspondence. 
Its  transactions  and  diplomacy,  its  accounts  and  do- 
ings are  open  to  the  entire  world.  In  America  it 
is  organized  by  States.  Most  of  its  committees  have 
been  appointed  by  the  Governors  and  in  several  the 
Governor  is  acting  chairman.  Each  State  is  au- 
tonomous, collecting  food  and  clothes,  and  money  to 
buy  food,  the  money  being  mostly  expended  within 
the  communities  contributing  it.  The  transporta- 
tion fund  enables  it  to  have  every  contributed  cent 


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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES 


converted  into  food.  The  great  shiploads  that  have 
sailed  in  the  names  of  many  States  have  been  de- 
tailed in  the  press — they  are  not  chronicled  here, 
But  all  that  America  has  donated,  75,000  tons,  in- 
cluding the  "Foundation"  gifts,  would  not  have  fed 
the  Belgians  one  single  month. 

The  Woman's  Section  was  created  upon  request 
of  the  Ambassadors  and  collective  Commission.  It 
planned  to  enlist  the  great  organizations  of  women. 
Between  November  10th  and  December  10th  it  had 
secured  the  co-operation  of  Presidents  of  organiza- 
tions, International,  National  and  State,  representing 
over  six  millions  of  women.  It  has  to-day  twenty- 
one  National  organizations,  a  number  never  before 
in  the  world's  history  rallied  to  any  cause.  Twenty- 
eight  State  Federations  of  Clubs  are  standing  with  it. 
It  has  thirty-three  States  well  organized.  In  several 
sections  it  has  led  the  way  for  the  men,  and  every- 
where it  has  been  helpmate  and  inspiration.  In 
twenty-three  of  the  thirty-three  organized  States  the 
chairmanship  is  held  by  the  President  of  the  Fed- 
eration of  Clubs  or  by  some  one  whom  she  has 
designated  to  represent  her.  In  four  others  the 
chairman  was  selected  by  the  Governor.  In  one 
other  the  wife  of  the  Governor  is  the  honorary  and 
herself  chose  the  acting  chairman.  In  New  York 
the  wife  of  our  Governor  is  serving  upon  the  com- 
mittee in  charge  of  Albany  County.  She  sent  a  con- 
signment for  the  New  York  State  ship  which  sails 
the  first  week  in  March.  The  Woman's  Section 
seeks  nothing  for  itself ;  it  asks  of  its  organizations 
that  they  focus  influence  and  energy  in  their  own 
localities  in  co-operation  with  the  State  Committee's 
efforts.  The  loaded  trains  have  gathered  to  many 
wharves,  and  the  Mercy  Ships  have  sailed  from  many 
ports.  Unlabeled  and  unclaimed  of  our  women,  they 
have  sped  to  bless  and  rescue. 


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ADDRESS  BY  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES 


On  the  far  horizon  where  the  sea  and  the  heavens 
are  one  is  the  dream-fleet  of  October,  transmuted 
into  reality  by  the  helping  work  of  the  women  of 
the  States  inspired  as  we,  too,  have  been  by  our 
Woman's  Section. 

We,  who  are  of  the  Commission,  realize  that  we 
work  feverishly  before  an  advancing  wall  of  lava. 
The  black  stream  bears  upon  its  wrinkled  front,  an- 
nihilation for  the  "Little  Sister  of  the  World."  May 
we  be  strong  to  save.  She  stands  at  Armageddon 
and  we  battle  for  the  Lord ! 


10 


FORM    I  2  O 


The      Commission  for 


Relief      in  Belgium 

71  Broadway,  New  York 

American  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium 
Spanish  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium 
Italian  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belg  um 
Comite  National  de  Secours  et  D' Alimentation 

Honorary  Chairmen 
His  Excellency  Walter  Hines  Page 

The  American  Ambassador  in  London 

His  Excellency  James  Gerard 
The  American  Ambassador  in  Berlin 
His  Excellency  William  G.  Sharp 
The  American  Ambassador  in  1'aris 
His  Excellency 
Senor  Don  Alfonso  Merry  Del  Val  Y  Zulueta 
The  Spanish  Ambassador  in  London 
His  Excellency  Le  Marquis  de  Villalobar 
The  Spanish  Minister  in  Brussels 
His  Excellency  Brand  Whitloclc 
The  American  Minister  in  Brussels 
His  Excellency  Henry  Van  Dyke 
The  American  Minister  in  The  Hague 

Executive  Officer — London 

Herbert  C.  Hoover.  Chairman 
Executive  Officers— New  York 

I  indon  W.  Bates,  Vice-Chairman 
Robert  D.  McCarter,  //on.  Secretary 

The  Woman's  Section 

No.  I  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 
Mis.  Lindon  Bates,  Chairman 
Miss  Anne  Morgan,  Treasurer 

Auditors  and  Accountants 
Deloitte,  Plender,  Griffiths  &  Co. 
New  York  and  London 

Bankers 

National  City  Bank 
55  Wall  Street,  New  York 
Guaranty  Trust  Co. 
140  Broadway,  New  York 


